Restaurant Guide 2013: The Parish

[PEARL OYSTERS] Tobias Hogan and
Ethan Powell deserve a lot of credit for abstaining from all the
available puns when they opened an oyster bar in the Pearl District. The
Parish offers an almost identical menu to its North Portland relative,
EaT: an Oyster Bar, though Pearl-ified. Here, po’ boys are replaced by
the lagniappe board and a salad menu. Start with the warm octopus salad:
rabbit sausage, octopus tentacle, potatoes and other assorted
ingredients are a savory reprieve from the delicate raw oysters. Oysters
are served in every way imaginable. Most are very good, though the
fried oysters are undone by an overly thick, McNugget-like batter. “It
was a brave man who first ate an oyster,” Jonathan Swift said. It was an
even braver person who decided to add them to shots. And we are better
for it. The Cajun oyster shooter, one of five options, is how oysters
were intended to be eaten: raw, sliding down the back of your throat
accompanied by chili sauce and chili vodka. The Cajun fare filling out
the menu is all serviceable, perfect for the friend/family member you
brought who doesn’t like oysters. They can dine on hearty duck gumbo
while you toss back a few more oyster shooters.